Charles Schumer

Sen. Charles Schumer says the federal government needs more railroad bridge safety inspectors. The New York Democrat says that while the federal government is responsible for the safety of bridges it owns, many others are owned by private rail companies.

Schumer says while there are 3,000 of those bridges in New York state, there is only one inspector assigned to audit them, in addition to the bridges in 13 other states.

Local police and Sen. Charles Schumer are asking the Secret Service to investigate a rash of counterfeit money that has turned up recently.

A handful of local businesses, from Wegman’s to Empire Brewery have been fooled in the past few weeks by fake bills. In all, law enforcement says 10 businesses in central New York have fallen victim to counterfeit currency in the past month.

Also victim has been Byrne Dairy, where regional manager James Kehoe says each register has a counterfeit detection pen for employees to use, which he demonstrates on a new $100 bill.

The new director of the Secret Service is facing questions from a House of Representatives committee today about recent scandals that have plagued the organization. New York’s senior senator is one of many lawmakers that feel there should be an extensive investigation into the Secret Service,

In Syracuse Monday, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says he believes that some of the Secret Service’s tough standards have slipped.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is getting blasted for pulling back promised funds for some infrastructure projects in Onondaga County. Last September, HUD promised about $500,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to several municipalities in Onondaga County to help pay for various infrastructure projects. Two months later, the way HUD figured out which communities were eligible for the funds changed, and much of the funding was taken away.

One hundred-fifty Syracuse homeowners are being spared by the federal government from having to buy flood insurance.

City officials and Sen. Charles Schumer encouraged the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to re-examine measurements of Onondaga Creek. Wednesday, Schumer and Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner announced the maps will be revised and include fewer homes.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says there is a shortcoming in health insurance for disabled veterans that’s depriving their children of coverage.

Family members of disabled military service members are allowed to receive health coverage under a Veterans Administration program called CHAMPVA. But Schumer says that program needs to be amended to be in line with the rest of the health care world under the Affordable Care Act.

Over the past several years, Sen. Charles Schumer has been able to secure federal money to help with upgrading facilities, including the improvement of rail lines and even dredging the Port of Oswego. He calls the upgrade of the port one of his "pet projects."

Schumer has been advocating modernizing the port for several years and says when all is said and done, he expects the job impact to be in the thousands.

With the shake-up of the New York Jets coaching staff and management, it's unclear if the football team will continue to hold its training camp at SUNY Cortland. Sen. Charles Schumer is already lobbying to keep the football teams summer home in central New York.

New York farmers are diversifying their cash crops by adding malt barley to their fields. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has a plan to jumpstart the state's malt barley farming industry.

Malt barley is a temperamental little plant. It needs to be brought up in very specific conditions in order to yield a quality beer. Adverse weather can destroy entire harvests -- like this past season in places like Idaho where heavy rain took 85 percent of their crop. That's why Schumer is pushing for insurance for New York malt barley farmers.

Former Gov. Mario Cuomo will be memorialized at a funeral service in Manhattan later this morning.

Hundreds of mourners lined up for his wake yesterday. Many political leaders also attended, including Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden, House of Representatives minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

Earlier in the day, Schumer remembered the three-term governor, who was said to have never forgotten that he was a Roman Catholic kid from Queens.

Once Republican John Katko begins representing central New York's 24th Congressional District next month, he says he plans to take time to praise police in an era when police-community relations have become strained.

When Katko was a federal prosecutor in Syracuse, he worked a great deal with police officers and came across some of the bad apples.

New standards for how crude oil is shipped along rail lines through states like New York are moving forward, but Sen. Charles Schumer says the process needs to move faster.

The crude oil crossing the nation now is hauled in train cars known as DOT-111’s. Safety advocates say the cars are outdated and lack equipment to stop leaks or explosions. Introducing newer models has been a slow process.

United States Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is supporting the nearly $1 trillion omnibus spending bill now under consideration in Congress. One reason is the inclusion of money that will help municipalities fix broken sewer systems.

Schumer says negotiators were able to lock $1.4 billion in the final budget bill for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund that offers municipalities grants or loans to fix sewers.

A federal loophole is letting some dangerous trucking companies continue to operate in New York state. But U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is looking to close it by calling for stricter tracking measures that would keep dangerous trucking companies off the road.

“Rather than pay the fine or face repercussions, some (trucking companies) dissolve and reapply for permitting under a different name," Schumer said. "They’re called chameleon carriers. Same owners, same employees, same vehicles, just a different name.”

A move to designate the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn as a National Historical Park is nearing reality.

The proposal has been attached to the Defense Authorization Bill that Congress has to approve every year. Sen. Chuck Schumer told reporters Wednesday he was very pleased the New York congressional delegation was able to get the amendment included.

After several instances of small drones being spotted near New York City’s largest airport, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is becoming more concerned about safety and privacy concerns over the unmanned aircraft.

Schumer says some recent near-misses between small drones and commercial aircraft and helicopters in New York City show a need for safety and privacy regulations to be released from the Federal Aviation Administration as soon as possible.

New York’s senior senator wants members of the military screened for mental health problems more often in an effort to stem the military’s high suicide rate.

Right now, members of the armed services are screened for mental health problems before and immediately after deployment to combat zones.

"The screenings are better than nothing and they’re an important component in the military’s efforts to lower the suicide rate," Sen. Charles Schumer said. "But it’s not enough, and it fails to address some of the mental health issues in a large group of members."

About 10 million bushels of grain come through the Port of Oswego each year, but the port cannot export that grain to other countries by ship because it doesn't have the necessary designation from the USDA.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says he is going to try to change that. Schumer says he believes the port could qualify for the USDA designation, with some help from SUNY Oswego.

West side of Syracuse residents are again fighting to keep a halfway house for felons re-entering the community out of their neighborhood, saying the current facility is just fine where it is, far away.

The federal Bureau of Prisons' contract with non-profit Firetree, LTD. to operate a re-entry facility on the eastern edge of downtown Syracuse is up. Firetree, which is from Pennsylvania, has submitted a bid to have the contact to run the three-dozen bed facility renewed.

Spent grain will once again be allowed to be used as livestock feed in New York state. Sen. Chuck Schumer says the by product of the brewing process had been used for centuries by farmers to feed livestock, until the federal government got involved.

"All of a sudden the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, came in and said 'you can’t send this spent grain except under certain conditions.' That hurt our craft brewers, say Empire Brewing and F.X.Matt here in central New York," said Schumer. It hurt our farmers getting this grain. Otherwise they’d have to pay to dispose of it.”

Sen. Charles Schumer is pushing for federal grants to create a new training program to ease the shortage of high-skilled jobs in central New York.

If the $15 million federal grant comes through, Onondaga Community College will be able to partner with local businesses and place graduates in a job and train local residents in the growing field of mechatronics.

Mechatronics requires students to be skilled in engineering, mechanics, electronics and other technical skills. Potential jobs in the field range from maintenance and repair workers, to industrial machinery mechanics.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) wants to give New Yorkers a way to fight back if their Social Security number is stolen. Schumer says he is pushing for a so-called "Bill of Rights" that would provide victims of identity theft with a way to minimize the damage of losing their Social Security number.

If passed, it would allow victims of identity theft to pursue civil damages for up to three times the amount stolen. It would also provide Social Security beneficiaries with a single point of contact if their number is stolen.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) says New York has a lack of residents with the skills needed to fill jobs in the state's growing advanced manufacturing industry. That's why he says he's pushing for a $15 million federal grant to help 30 SUNY schools train people to fill those positions.

The Central New York Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, or CABVI, is one of many non-profits across the country losing revenues because the federal government is not fully complying with the law. The 1971 Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act requires the federal government to purchase certain products from non-profits that employ the blind and those with other disabilities.

Steve Gannon, the association’s director of development, says although the losses have an impact on some of the products the facility makes, there are large shortfalls nationwide.